Sports

The University of Kentucky, and especially first-year head coach John Calipari, recently pushed the limits in showing just how poor the “one-and-done rule” is for college basketball, which forces athletes to wait until their 19th birthday before declaring for the NBA draft. Calipari took his fight against the one-and-done rule to new heights this school year, when his ‘Cats posted a GPA of 2.025, falling far behind the school average of 2.91, the freshman average of 2.82, and putting the school last in the SEC among the nine schools who reported their team-GPA. (more…)

The announcement of my Friday-night plans to go and see the GymDogs against Arkansas was met with smirks and chuckles by my buddies. Gymnastics? Are you serious? Yes, I replied. You have to go. (more…)

Have I mentioned how much I love basketball season? I know I haven’t this semester, mainly because I forgot to write a column last week (oops), but even if I have previously, it bears repeating: I love basketball season. It’s where this (http://bit.ly/6FCcXP), this (http://bit.ly/7IJ2sW) and this (http://bit.ly/8nYOnI) happen. I know that Athens is a football town, and it probably always will be, but Coach Mark Fox is doing his best to make basketball relevant for Bulldogs again. And he’s doing a damn good job. (more…)

Gambling is something I’ve always been interested in. How does Vegas know where to set the lines? Why do the lines move — is it the big money bettors coming in or are the “Joes” laying silly money for parlay bets? Where do these guys get their information? (more…)

It’s happened again. I’ve been sucked in. Like my former co-host Kirk Carter (though certainly not because of anything he has written, trust me) I believe in the Red and Black. I think we’re going to come out of Atlanta with a win. (more…)

Georgia walked into the second half of the season with a chance at retribution. They suffered big losses at Florida and Tennessee and were embarrassed defensively by barely-capable Stephen Garcia and Jonathan Crompton. After the victory over Auburn, it seemed Georgia might have turned a corner, committing few penalties, not turning the ball over and shutting down the top offense in the SEC in the second half. For once, the team showed heart and ability after going down in the first quarter. Signs of resilience, something rarely seen in the last two seasons. But in just 30 minutes of mistake ridden, penalty prone, turnover-tormented football, all of that came completely undone. (more…)

Here’s the battle of HORSE between myself and basketball legend, Mark Pope (unrelated to the man in the Vatican). We battled in Stegeman Coliseum for hours, but I managed to trim it down to just 9 minutes.

I had to edit the video a bit to satisfy some of the Athletic Department’s cravings. Unfortunately it makes my pregame interview look a bit silly but then again, so does the rest of the video. Enjoy.

Here are some quick thoughts and notes from the weekend. (more…)

As I entered the Tate Plaza yesterday, I saw a very odd sight. One of Auburn’s mascots, Aubie the Tiger, was standing on the main stage shaking hands with Hairy Dawg. The stranger thing was that students in the plaza were applauding. I looked around for the guillotine but couldn’t find one. Why were these students clapping our Deep South’s Oldest Rival? I then saw a sign that said something about improving the relationship between Auburn and Georgia. I initially thought this just meant Joe Cox would continue to throw interceptions, but then realized it was some initiative towards the fans. What?

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I went over to the practice facilities at Stegeman Coliseum today to clear up a few things that I wondered from the live-blog last week. Here are a few notes and thoughts with some audio at the end (including Matt Bucklin’s interview virginity!) (more…)